Mowing machine and cutter therefor



Aug. 23, 3923.

H. H. MONTA'GUE MOWING.MACHINE AND CUTTER THEREFOR Filed March 9, 1921 reamed Aug. 21, was.

easier. enrich.

nunnar HOWARD nonrneun, or rnavnnsn crrY, MICHIGAN.

mowmoirncnrivn AND currna THEREFOR.

Application fiIedYMarch '9, 1921. Serial No. 450,9;22.

To aZtw/wmitmay' concern: j r

I 1 Be it known that I, HUBERT H; Mon'rso'un, a citizen of the United States, residing at Traverse City, county of'Grand' Traverse, State of- Michigan, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in lvlowing Machines and Cutters Therefor, and declare the following-to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, such as will enable others skilled in the art towhich it pertains had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

In my prior Patent No; 1,317,212 dated September 30, 1919 I have disclosed an'ovel form of mowing machinemade up of a plurality ofsimilar individual units each comprlsing a pair of cooperating rotary discs. The object of the present invention is to simplify and improve the structural details of the machine of the aforesaid patent and of the individual cutting units.

'The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterized: will hereinafter be pointed outwith particularity in the claims; but for a full understanding of my invention and of its objectsand advantages, reference may be'hadto the following detailed description taken; in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a fragment of one end of a mowing machine arranged in accordance with a'preferred form of my invention; 1

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of that portion of the machine illustrated in Fig. 1;

'Fig. 3 is a'section taken approximately on line 83 of Fig. 2;

1F ig. 1 is a section on an enlarged scale taken through one of the cutting discs approximately on line 4t1 of 1;

Fig. 5 is a plan view ofone of the ejectore or cleaning devices lying between oneof the cutters and the overlying supporting frame; and

modified form of cutting disc.

Referring to the drawing, l represents a frame of any deslred form supporting a horizontal shaft, 2.111 the arrangement Fig. 6 is a central axial section through a or the like inwardly. -The shaft is supported from the frame by means of bearings pro]ect1ng forwardly from the upright portion of the frame, one of such bearings being shown at 5. Fixed to the shaft, below each of the ears, is a toothed wheel, 6, adapted to rest on the ground and serve as the supporting wheels for: the mower, as in my aforesaid patent. Viewed from the front of the machine, the ears are inclined so that the plane of the top of one ear cuts through the upper portion of the wheel underneath the next car in the series. Lying on top of each ear is one of the toothed cutting discs, 7, and lying on the under sideof each ear, except one of the endmost cars, is another one of these discs; the parts'being so proportioned and arranged that the teeth on each disc below one of the ears mesh with the teeth on top of one of the adjacent ears. The discs on the under sides. of the ears are so disposed that the teeth thereon will mesh with the teeth of the adjacent supporting wheels of the machine. Consequently one of the discs of each'unit, made up of a pair of co-operating discs, is positively driven from one of the supporting wheels for the machine and positively drives the other disc in the manner that one gear wheel drives another. The teeth on the discs may be so proportioned that the co-operating teeth have a rolling contact with each other, thus making the machine noiseless in operation.

One of the novel featuresof my improved cutting discs is that they are all'precisely alike and interchangeable, each having two sets of teeth lying in two separate planes, the

of collecting fingers to draw the blades or stalks into position to be sheared. Shearing edges must be provided, these being preferably disposed so as to extend circumferentially so that as the grass is gathered in by two teeth on two co-operating discs it will enter between two opposed shearing edges which close on the grass and cut it 0E. The desired characteristics of the teeth as well as the proper shearing edges may conveniently be obtained by first giving the teeth the: shape: of true "gear teeth and then cuttingaway" a portion of the outer end of each tooth, preferably that partlying-on one side otaradius bisecting thetooth. the

' -lei't si debfthe teetlrofthe other set so that whenever two 01" the discs are broughtinto iine'sh, the -shearing edges 'on the upper-set ofteeth oi -each disc co"-operate with the shearing edges on the-lower set ofteeth in {thef-other disc. "The depthto which the eXc1s1ons in "the teeth are made must of "course be such that the co-o'perating cutting -edgesmay travel entirely past each' other shears. -In order to secure a perfect-sheareradially ofthc d-is'cs in the manner of true .ingoperation it is necessarythat the faces ijef the members 5 carrying the shearing edges be presse'daga instea'ch other. This-"may conveniently beaccompl-ished by bending the teeth of each setslightly toward the plane "of the teeth of the other-set. in other Words, instead of 1 having the adj acent fiat "faces of the two sets of teeth in substantially "the "same plane I prefer to deflector bend the teeth sol that, as shown in Fig. l, the teeth or each set will extend inwardly someivhat past"theplai1e ot the inner faces of the-teethl of the other set. vi ith this -an :rangeinent, as two of the-discs rcvo'lve in ;operative"relation to each other, the teeth fftvi'll- ';'be forced to adjust themselves so as to bring the plane of th innerfaces 7 of one set into" substantially the plane of the inner ad'just nentof the-teethx in the axial direction will take -place and reinai n elfective ionly V during'the time any particular teeth are ineshed Withco-operating teeth-and, as soon "a tooth passes out of contact WltlI' a f eo operatingtootlrof another disc, it springs 5 back to its-normal position. In this 'Way ea'c'lr'pair'of shearing edges as they passinto 1 operative I'GlfitlOIl' to each other are pressed against each other so as" to insure a true rehearing aetion. Furthermore, as Wear takes place' on' the flat faces of the teeth; the spring 'a'ctlon' o'f' the teeth compensates therefor.

out o-fsheet steel, each disc being made out The discs conveniently be-stamped of--a single piece or, as shown inFig. 6,

each disc may 'ibe 'inade out of two-thin vsheetsflland 12, the teeth, 8,:of oneset beingon the member. 11 and the teeth, 9, 0% theother-set-on the member 12; the memnbers lll' and 12 beinglaid uponeach-other and fastened together by'means of rivets,

13,:0r otherwise. The displacement ofthe teeth in the axial-direction to secure an efi'ective'shearing action may conveniently be then accomplished by making the member s ii an d r V 12 more or less dish-shapedand'uniting them withtheir concave sides facing each other.

The rivets willilatten out the central portions ofthe'dish inembersbut Will permit the teethto reniain-deflected.

his not desirahle to depend for a perfect shearing 1 act-ioni-onj a "finely titted journal bearing for the discs or heels and I therefore proportionrtlie partsrcso timer least three teeth: on eachiidisc will be. iniengagement with the other discstwo of theteeth being of one set .and' the' other tooth of the second set. -While itiinay be possible tosea cure this "result with aidiflerent number of teeth, I J h ave found; nine' teeth; in each set to be -a satisfactory number.

lation' to each other andwillwbe found to grip each-other firmly enough to: permit one disc to be suspended vertically from the other ithout becoming disengaged there from. The discs are revolubly supported by simple screyvs,'i l, passing through the saine into the ear memberszoftheframe. In

order to prevent dirt/or other foreignixnatter 'fronr collecting between the ;discs and theadJaoent surfaces ofthe supportingears,

I have placed'bctween each discand the corresponding ear a peculiarly shaped tvasher.

Between each ear andtheicnttingdisclying above ltl PlQICG fl WZIShBI, 16,,"QI1Q"QClge of which takes theformlofiaspiral, l7 exten'dingi'rom near thecenterwo f the disc toithe vicinity of the' cuttingeedge, 'llhe washer' maybe prevented from turning byinea-nsof 7 Two such discs "be-brought into interlocki ngir'ea lip,-1 8, struck downwardly therefrom and bearing again st a-n edge of: the supporting ea'r. Any foreign-matter collecting on the under Smilfiftli disciwi ll strike aga nst the sp iral ed g e,:].7, L ofa the latter and be pushed outwardly ereby untili'it s drops' ito @the ground. Between each ear and the-lindenlying disc -1 place a washer, 19,- hating a spiral edge, 20, similar to theaed'ge I7 and a diametrically -o ppos -te -:spiral edge, {31; The edge 7 21 servcs to clearforeignrginatter out of :the spa'ce'betweenithecar aiid the disc Whildthe: edge 20 serves to 'catchaanyforeign *material ilying upon the exposed outer portion of the disc and push it outwardly and cause ittoxdr'op downao'ver: the

edge of thedisc before-itcanaenter beneath p I Eachwaslier 19 1s also. provided" the ear. With-a lipQQstruQk-up therefrom and adapted to engage :an edge: of the corresponding supporting ear to prevent the l ivasherifrom turning.

It 'will-thus'be seen that I havelgreatly simplified the details -01 -constructionlofthe machine disclosed in my, prior etent,=. Withf out departing fromv the principle; of .'opera tion: embodied inthat machine. .rLSince .the C11t-tlI-1g discs; are, allallke and interchange able and of simple construction, entirely new set or" cutters may be inserted when one set becomes dull, at a comparatively small expense and without requiring the services of a skilled mechanic for that purpose. It will also be seen, however, that the life of the cutters will be unusually great because of the provision for taking up wear between the shearing elements; this feature at the same time serving to insure a. perfect shear ing action.

' It will of course be understood that my machine may be used for anypurpose that mowing machines of various kindsha-ve or may be used for and that it maybe made to cut a swath of any desired length by simply making the driving and supporting shaft of the requisite length and adding the necessary number of cutting units.

While I have illustrated and described with particularity only a single preferred form of my invention, I do not desire to be limited to the exact structural details thus illustrated and described; but intend to cover all forms and arrangements which come within the terms employed in the definitions of my invention constituting the appended claims.

-teeth lying in planes displaced from each other in the axial direction and placed in staggered relation to each other, the teeth being shaped to make rolling contact with the corresponding teeth of a complementary wheel, and each tooth having a portion cut away on one side'at the outer end to form a cutting edge extending transverse to a radius traversing that tooth, the excisions in the teeth of both sets being on the same side of the teeth as viewed in one axial direction.

3. A. combined gear and cutter comprising a wheel-like elementhaving two sets er gear teethdisplaced tromeach other in the axial direction, the teeth of one set lying opposite the spaces between the teeth of the other set, each tooth having approximately one-half thereof lying on one side of a radius traversing the same cut away at the outer end so as to form a cutting edge transverse to such radius.

4;. A combined gear and cutter c0mprising a wheel-like element having at its periphery two sets of gear teeth displaced from each other in the axial direction, the

teeth of one set lying opposite the spaces between the teeth of the other set, each tooth having a portion cut away on one side at the outer end to form a cutting edge extending transverse to a radius traversing that tooth, the teeth of each set being bent slightly out of a plane at right angles to the axis so as to project slightly into the spaces between the teeth of the other set.

5. A combined gear and cutter comprising a wheel-like element having two sets of gear teeth resilient in the direction of the wheel axis and lying in planes displaced from each other in the direction of said axis less than the thickness of a tooth, the outer end of each tooth being cut away on one side to form a cutting edge transverse to a radius traversing that tooth.

6. In a mowing machine, a cutting unit comprising two wheel-like elements each having two sets of gear teeth displaced from each other in the direction of the wheel axis, the teeth of one set lying opposite the spaces between the teeth in the other set, and each tooth having a portion cut away therefrom at one sideat the outer end to form a cutting edge transverse to a radius traversing said tooth, each set of teeth on each of said elements meshing with one of the sets of teeth on the other element.

7. In a machine of the character de scribed, a support, a toothed wheel lying in proximity to said support and mounted thereon so as to be rotatable, and a stationary deflector between said wheel and said support having an edge beginning near the axis of rotation of the wheel and curving gradually away from said axis in the form of a spiral to a point near the periphery of the wheel.

' 8. In a. mowing machine, a shaft, a series of toothed wheels fixed to the shaft and adapted to run upon the ground. a frame supported on the shaft, and a series of cutting units supported on the frame in the vicinity of said wheels, there being as many wheels as there are cutting units, each cutting unit comprising two wheels eaca having two sets of gear teeth lying in planes displaced from each other in the axial dimotion and mutilated so that each has at one side a cutting edge extending transverse to a radius traversing that tooth, the teeth of one set lying opposite the spaces of the teeth in the other set, the teeth of one of said cutting wheels meshing with the corre sponding toothed supporting wheel for the machine and both sets of teeth of the latter cutting wheel meshing with the teeth of the other cutting wheel of that unit.

In testimony whereof, I sign this specification.

HUBERT HOWARD MONTAGUE. 

